Embroidery isn’t really my thing. I really enjoy it, but I lack the patience to do much of it! I started this project a couple of weeks ago and frankly I’m amazed that I finished it so quickly. Perchance it was because I wanted to get it off my desk…

Still, I’m pleased with the way it turned out. I’ve had a bit of a hankering for the circus lately thanks to The Night Circus – if you haven’t read the book then don’t click on the link (which will take you to the Wikipedia entry and is full of spoilers), just find a copy and read it. Anyway, this project was inspired jointly by my love of the book, and my enthusiasm for my newly tidied embroidery threads. I’ll be honest, I had half a mind to do the entire alphabet but then came to my senses and decided to just do the first four letters – if anyone fancies a different letter then of course I’d be happy to take on a custom order, as I’m bound to regain my enthusiasm after a bit of a break from the seemingly endless French knots!

Hey look, another special edition! I stumbled across this at the weekend and thought it deserved to be seen as soon as possible. Sarm Studios (Basing Street, W11) is closing down, and on the wooden hoardings around the building there’s a farewell installation which I thought ought to be enjoyed by as many people as possible. Click on each photo to view a larger version, which will also allow you to read the notes.

I can’t believe it’s been almost three years since I launched this design (original blog post here), but it’s been a steady seller in my shop so I thought I might as well offer it in a different style. As well as the Moleskine cahiers I also have jotter pads available in a variety of colours. Click here to visit my shop.

I really enjoy cataloguing the street art that I find when I’m out and about, and it’s been a godsend in terms of having a regular feature on my blog. However, pieces of street art are a bit like buses: you don’t see any for ages, and then three turn up at once. So I tend to spread them out and publish one a week, which often means that I’ve got them written, numbered, and scheduled in WordPress anywhere from a week to two months in advance. On the whole this is a good thing as it means I don’t spend my time fretting about what to write about next…but on the other hand it does mean that when I find something I want to write about immediately then I’ve got a bit of a mess to sort out if I don’t want to muck up my numbering.

So to get around this little problem I’m introducing Street Art Special Editions, which will be numbered separately to my regular feature and can therefore be slotted in whenever I like.

The art I have for you today is the latest exhibition in Portobello Road. For those who aren’t familiar with the area, the north end of Portobello Road (the section that runs between Golborne Road and Raddington Road) usually has a display of murals which are changed several times a year. Every time they change it I think “I really must blog this one” and then never get round to it. Today I noticed that they’d changed it again recently, so here’s the new display.

The photos are in the order they appear running from north to south along the road, and each mural section is followed by the close ups of the blue plaques featured on them. To get the most from this display you should click each image to view a larger version. I hope you enjoy it, and I’d love to hear your comments.

It’s been quite a while since I did a work in progress blog entry, but don’t be fooled into thinking I haven’t been working on anything. I’ve just been too busy to write about things!

Last year I made a start on tidying my embroidery threads (which were languishing in a tin all crammed together higgledy-piggledy, an utter nightmare to unravel and use) and then got bored and abandoned them again. I was recently reminded of this half-finished mess and finally got round to sorting them out properly.

Much easier to find the colours I want, and infinitely more appealing! So appealing, in fact, that I couldn’t resist starting a new project (yes, despite the umpteen unfinished ones lurking around the house and studio…).

I’ve almost finished the D, after which I really must step away from the embroidery and go back to some of the other work that’s in progress and desperately needs completing. These embroidered letters will be framed very soon, but I’ll definitely blog about that when they go into my Etsy shop!